Yahoo Finance With 36% ownership, Gaia, Inc. (NASDAQ:GAIA) insiders have a lot riding on the company's future
Key Insights
Insiders appear to have a vested interest in Gaia's growth, as seen by their sizeable ownership
The top 6 shareholders own 52% of the company
A look at the shareholders of Gaia, Inc. (NASDAQ:GAIA) can tell us which group is most powerful. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 36% to be precise, is individual insiders. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.
With such a notable stake in the company, insiders would be highly incentivised to make value accretive decisions.
Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Gaia, beginning with the chart below.
See our latest analysis for Gaia
What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Gaia?
Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.
We can see that Gaia does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This implies the analysts working for those institutions have looked at the stock and they like it. But just like anyone else, they could be wrong. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Gaia, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too.
It would appear that 13% of Gaia shares are controlled by hedge funds. That's interesting, because hedge funds can be quite active and activist. Many look for medium term catalysts that will drive the share price higher. Because actions speak louder than words, we consider it a good sign when insiders own a significant stake in a company. In Gaia's case, its Top Key Executive, Jirka Rysavy, is the largest shareholder, holding 26% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.4% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.4% by the third-largest shareholder. In addition, we found that James Colquhoun, the CEO has 4.4% of the shares allocated to their name.
We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.
While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. There is a little analyst coverage of the stock, but not much. So there is room for it to gain more coverage.
Insider Ownership Of Gaia
The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.
Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.
Our most recent data indicates that insiders own a reasonable proportion of Gaia, Inc.. Insiders have a US$40m stake in this US$110m business. This may suggest that the founders still own a lot of shares. You can click here to see if they have been buying or selling.
General Public Ownership
The general public, who are usually individual investors, hold a 19% stake in Gaia. This size of ownership, while considerable, may not be enough to change company policy if the decision is not in sync with other large shareholders.
Private Company Ownership
We can see that Private Companies own 3.3%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.
Next Steps:
It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Gaia better, we need to consider many other factors. Be aware that Gaia is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...
But ultimately it is the future, not the past, that will determine how well the owners of this business will do. Therefore we think it advisable to take a look at this free report showing whether analysts are predicting a brighter future.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
